Patients who have sustained a neck or back injury must be handled by medical personnel very carefully so that movement of the patient does not worsen the patient's condition by further traumatizing the patient's spinal cord. It is well understood that even the slightest movement of the patient which results in additional trauma placed on the spinal cord can cause paralysis or other problems which may not have been present if the patient was more carefully moved or transported. From the scene of an accident to the hospital, the patient must be moved at least twice including once from the location of the injury to a stretcher or ambulance bed, and then from the structure/ambulance bed to a hospital bed. Even for patients who have been previously admitted to a hospital for treatment of injuries, it is often necessary to move patients for surgery or other purposes. Therefore, even after receiving medical treatment, patients in a hospital are often moved a number of times. For those patients who have neck or back injuries, it is critical that the patients not be moved so that the spinal cord does not receive any additional injury.
The owner of the present invention is also the owner of a device known as the “Slide-Mat®” which is a transport mat for providing the capability to transport or move a patient from one location to another as described above. The Slide-Mat® is also disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,565 which is hereby incorporated by reference. The Slide-Mat ® is characterized by a tubular sewn arrangement of fabric including padding which fills the gap between the inner and outer surfaces. The inside fabric forming the interior surface is made of a very slippery fabric such as silicone coated rip-stop nylon. The outer fabric forming the outside surface is made of a separate piece of fabric such as nylon and a coating of HT Teflon™. The HT teflon improves water repelliency. The padding may be polyester. In use of the Slide-Mat®, one longitudinal edge of the Slide-Mat® is slid underneath one edge of the patient's body. Depending upon the extent of the patient's injuries, the patient can be gently lifted to partially raise one side of the patient's body in order so that the longitudinal edge may be placed underneath at least one side of the patient's body. If the patient cannot be lifted at all, then the longitudinal edge is slid to the extent possible under the one side of the patient's body. The patient is then pushed in a direction parallel to the plane in which the patient lies so that the Slide-Mat® rolls thereby shifting the patient transversely with respect to the direction in which the patient lies.
The Slide-Mat® has proven to be a very effective yet simple device for allowing a patient to be moved from one surface to another. The interior surface made of the silicone coated rip-stop nylon allows the interior surface to make contact during rolling of the Slide-Mat® without binding or folding thereby ensuring a smooth rolling movement of the device during use.
While the existing Slide-Mat® has many advantages and continues to provide an effective means of transporting a patient from one surface to another, the present invention has a number of additional advantages.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a transport mat which is disposable but is made of a material which has the equivalent strength as the original Slide-Mat® material.
It is another object to provide a transport mat that may be assembled by means in addition to sewing such as glueing of the edges which define the longitudinal and transverse edges of the Slide-Mat®, as well as the seam which is incorporated to join the ends of the pieces of material.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide increased friction on the exterior surface of the Slide-Mat® thereby ensuring that the transport mat uniformly rolls and does not bunch up as a patient is moved.
In accordance with the present invention, a disposable transport mat is provided which includes a number of characteristics or features which improve upon the original Slide-Mat® product and the invention shown in the prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,565.